Education

Honors and Awards

SmithKline-Beecham award for research excellence, 1993

Pfizer Award for research excellence, 2000

University of Florida Research Professor, 2007

Research Interests

Defining molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis in emerging infectious diseases, development of recombinant vaccines and improved molecular diagnostics. A long-term research focus has been to understand the molecular basis for persistent infections, beginning with investigations of antigenic variation in African trypanosomes and now including persistent infections caused by rickettsias of veterinary and human importance. An important finding has been the discovery of gene sequence mosaics in trypanosomes and Anaplasma. These mosaics are formed by contribution of sequence to genomic expression sites by different functional pseudogenes. This allows extensive surface diversity to be created from the small Anaplasma genomes because of the large number of different combinatorial possibilities. With the completion of genome sequence for these organisms, this research is now extending in two main directions: 1) analysis of gene expression and variation at the whole genome level. 2) development of transformation systems to knock-out virulence genes to develop new vaccines.

As part of both the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and the Academic Health Center, Veterinary Medicine is dedicated to advancing animal, human and environmental health through teaching, research, extension and patient care.

Need animal care? Visit the UF Small Animal and Large Animal Hospitals. From dogs, cats, birds and exotics to horses, cattle, llamas, pigs and many other large farm or food animals, our experienced veterinarian staff is ready to assist.

Animal Airwaves is a daily radio series that features one-minute segments relating to animal health, ranging from consumer tips offering insights into animal behavior to veterinary patient care breakthroughs and trends.